Sony Dropping Price Of PlayStation 3 and a new version of the console that will include an 80-gigabyte hard drive.

Sony appears to have blinked first in the current video game console war.

The company that dominated the battle among the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube announced Monday (July 9) that its current model of the eight-month-old PlayStation 3 will drop in price from $599 to $499 in North America, effective immediately. Neither Microsoft's Xbox 360 nor Nintendo's Wii have dropped in price since the systems' respective launches in November 2005 and November 2006.

Sony also announced plans for the August introduction of a new version of the PS3 that will include an 80-gigabyte hard drive — 20 GB more than the current model — and a copy of the early 2007 racing game "MotorStorm." The new model will retail for $599.

	Sony cuts Playstation price in US	BBC News	Mon Jul 9	1
	New PlayStation to Go on Sale in August	Associated Press	Mon Jul 9	3
	Game on as Sony slashes cost of PS3 to boost sales in console wars	business.scotsman.com	Tue Jul 10	1
	Microsoft Plans to Cut Xbox Price to Compete With Wii	Bloomberg.com	Wed Jul 11	4
	No PS3 price cut in Australia...one of many examples of Australian consumers being ripped off.	Bozzor	Mon Jul 9	0